Do You know The Way to Go?

If you use Vancouver Airport then it is now cheaper to use the CANADA LINE to YVR.

At Waterfront Station the Canada Line station entrance is to the left once you're inside Waterfront entrance.

From Skytrain level you walk same direction train is going to Westcoast Express/TransLink Ferry up escalator and turn right to main lobby and to right at convenience kiosk.

I pity older foreign travelers who don't use maps or even know their way around the city to find the library to plan their way back to the airport by transit using free computer access.

Nowadays a smart traveler has a smartphone and goes to internet cafes in Vancouver to plan their travel.

Training a new visitor to use a map and cardinal directions ought to be the Tourism Bureau's responsibility, not a random person at the Skytrain station.

Google Maps is Bad Enough

Back in 2007, people were concerned about cameras snapping pictures throughout Canadian cities for Google, citing privacy violation.

According to our federal privacy act, no one may take pictures in a public area of Canadian citizens.

However, every address in Canada can be viewed on Google Maps and that still has some privacy violations in itself.

If a person's address is given, then all it takes is another person to stake out the place until that person enters/exits the building to confirm the address.

Public institutions and other place of business are a different story since most public institutions are not legal citizens.

This may be why parts of Canada are highly accessible from Google Maps especially city centres while the suburbs are only accessible down to 250 meters per inch.

As well, the accuracy of map coördinates is within 50 metres.

Of course fine-tuning mapping software to accurately match physical addresses to map coördinates may compromise the privacy of Canadian citizens.

Although the mapping app for iPhone 5 was a bust, the accuracy of Google Maps is still bad enough as it is.

While Google Maps' may be off by 50 metres, this inaccuracy actually protects the Canadian privacy law.

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Original post: October 10, 2007 0251H
Update posted: March 11, 2013 0033H

My Google Account got Hacked Recently

About 48 hours ago, on October 24, 2011 I'd noticed that my Acer LiquidE Android phone was having a problem logging into Google.

Last night I corrected that problem.

Then it seemed my Yahoo email account might have been compromised too; but that was a false alarm I credit to fatigue since I'd been up since 0430h on October 25.

Today I have changed my Google account password, and may never know what happened.

When I changed my password Google claimed there was a lot of abnormal activity regarding my account, but failed to provide details.

For all I know, my use of the insecure Wifi portal at UBC on Monday might have been when the breach occurred.

However, this means having to email UBC's IT department.

Hopefully, the hackers did not get my CWL account password.

So, after this blog entry I plan to do just that: email UBCIT and see if we can work together to catch these hackers at the university.

NOTE TO HACKER(S): I am onto you. I will hunt you down. You will be tracked, and your days are numbered. This is your first and only warning!! This is not an idle threat. — Sageb1